FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT VICENTE FOX - PAGE 5

Vicente Fox, the man who ended Mexico's political dynasty and now will be the nation's president, admits he is two people. One is the rugged Marlboro man with cowboy boots, populist swagger and sharp tongue, a man of the people who Sunday proved himself a candidate capable of transforming a yearning for change in Mexico into a stunning election victory. The other is the deft political negotiator and former Coca-Cola sales executive, a quiet, educated man in a suit who knows the corridors of power and how to deal to get what he wants (this paragraph as published has been corrected in this text)

Vicente Fox, a charismatic rancher and political outsider, decisively dethroned Mexico's ruling political dynasty Sunday, besting rival Francisco Labastida by as much as 6 points in early returns. Full results in the historic election were not expected until Monday, but early returns showed Fox so far ahead that his ruling party rival, Labastida, conceded victory before midnight. "The citizenry has made its decision, and we all have to respect it. I will set an example," Labastida told supporters moments after early returns were announced.

When a foreign president visits a powerful duke--Mexican President Vicente Fox will meet Chicago Mayor Richard Daley here this week--there is the ancient custom of giving gifts. I just hope Daley doesn't do something embarrassing and try to get off cheap by offering Fox a few slices of Eli's cheesecake on Thursday. But what gift will Fox bring to the people of Chicago? "He will exchange gifts with Daley," said Cesar Romero, the press attache of the Consulate General of Mexico.

As part of a three-day Midwestern visit, Mexican President Vicente Fox will speak to students, parents and other community members at a Cicero school Thursday morning. Cicero Town President Ramiro Gonzalez confirmed Fox's planned visit to Unity Junior High at the Town Board meeting Tuesday. He estimated about 4,000 people will attend. "We're making more history here in Cicero," said Gonzalez, who was born in Mexico and has strong ties with his native country. "We're very honored that he picked Cicero to be the stage to address the United States and the residents of Mexico in the United States."

"Where are the clean hands?" Felipe Calderon shouted, cueing hundreds of supporters to follow him in raising open palms over their heads at a campaign rally. It is a gesture Calderon has repeated across Mexico, helping the presidential candidate with a lifetime of conservative politics in his blood to build a squeaky-clean image, free of smudges from the country's corruption. Yet suddenly, in the last weeks before the July 2 election to replace President Vicente Fox, voters are looking more closely at those hands.

During President Vicente Fox's visit to Chicago this week, he will be greeted by many immigrants who no longer see their relationship with Mexico as just sending money home each year with no voice in their native country's affairs. From Chicago and elsewhere in the United States, they expect to be voting for Fox's successor in 2006. On the eve of a three-day visit to the Midwest, Fox on Tuesday signed a long-demanded proposal to approve absentee voting for Mexicans abroad.

A deeply divided Mexico goes to the polls Sunday to decide whether to stick with the U.S.-friendly policies of President Vicente Fox or to clean house. At the end of the most competitive, negative campaign in Mexican history, the results of the two-man, left-vs.-right race could be even more important to the prosperity of the U.S.' southern neighbor than Fox's landmark victory six years ago. Perlita Hernandez Monteyo, 33, plans to vote for Fox ally Felipe Calderon. Why? As a result of the conservative Fox's "government of change," her family qualified for a housing credit that allowed them to own their first home and feel like part of a small but growing middle class.

- Several articles about Mexican President Vicente Fox have reported that Fox has a Harvard University education or a degree from the university. He has neither. The Harvard Business School says Fox did participate in a six-week course sponsored by Coca-Cola in the late 1960s that was taught by Harvard faculty members using Harvard Business School materials. The Tribune regrets the errors.

Laurie Goering's article "Mexico's president visits Chicago" (Page 1, July 15) emphasizes that President Vicente Fox wants an open border but does not support amnesty for Mexicans here illegally. Mexico could sweeten the pot by dropping out of OPEC and selling oil to the U.S. at bargain prices. We could grant amnesty to Mexicans here illegally.

President Vicente Fox urged Mexico City authorities Wednesday to remove sprawling camps of leftist protesters who want a complete recount of last month's presidential election, saying they are choking off commerce and tourism. Fox, who previously stayed on the sidelines of the dispute over the left's allegations of vote fraud, said the tent cities that have occupied a 5-mile stretch since Sunday are "putting jobs and economic activity at risk."